Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The number of food-stamp recipients
may provide more insight into Americans’ economic wellbeing than
the rate of inflation, according to Tobias Levkovich, Citigroup
Inc.’s chief U.S. equity strategist.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows a new version of the misery
index, developed by economist Arthur Okun in the 1970s, that
Levkovich created. The gauge is inverted to ease comparisons
with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which also appears.

Levkovich’s version couples the jobless rate with the year-to-year percentage changes in the number of people using the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly the food-stamp program, instead of the consumer-price data that Okun
included. The strategist unveiled his index in a report two days
ago, which said its trajectory points to higher stock prices.

“The traditional misery index encompassed unemployment and
inflation, but the lack of current inflation may make it less
relevant,” he wrote. Consumer prices rose 1.7 percent for the
12 months ended in August, according to data compiled by the
Labor Department.

Slower growth in the number of SNAP recipients largely
explains why the modified index has declined, the report said.
Enrollees rose 3.3 percent in June from a year ago, according to
the Agriculture Department’s latest figure. The increase was far
below a peak of 23 percent in August 2009, two months after a
U.S. recession ended.

Companies that rely on consumers’ discretionary income --
automakers, homebuilders, media companies, retailers -- are the
second-best performers during the past 12 months out of the S&P
500’s 10 main industry groups. Only financial companies have
risen more.